The Facts of Being
by allcreation7151129
Summary: He lost a lot after the battle at the Valley of the End. He lost his arm. He lost to Naruto. He lost his pride. Later he woke up in the Konoha Hospital. "Sasuke, what's the last thing you remember?" Uchiha Sasuke lost the last four years of his life.
1. Prologue

_A/N: I have never written from Sasuke's perspective before and I haven't written fanfiction let alone Naruto fanfiction for a very very long time. Hopefully, I haven't butchered his character and I hope I've realistic portrayed him in character. This idea just popped into my head so I'm going with the flow._

 _Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto._

* * *

" _As my journey took me around the world… I would often be reminded of back then, when we were lonely kids starving for love… but finding nothing but hatred."_

 _-Uchiha Sasuke_

* * *

After all these years, Sasuke's heart was finally at peace. He had lost many things along the way to get to where he is standing now. He had lost his family, his parents, and his brother. He created a new family with Team 7 and threw them away in search for power. His revenge did not satisfy his soul and had lost himself in the darkness. He sought death and didn't really remember what it was like to be warm again.

But Team 7, especially Naruto, never gave up on him no matter how deep Sasuke fell. Over and over again, the compassion from his former teammates would reach out to him, until he was finally out of the darkness. That was how he got here, missing his left arm, and his right joined with Naruto's left making a hand seal to dispel the Infinite Tsukuyomi.

Sasuke was never a man of words, but rather a man of action. But no words needed to be said because when he looked into the eyes of his team, he knew that he had found where he belonged. The strange cocoons were releasing all the people under the justu's power. The sun was rising, and the sunlight kissed the remains of the fallen statutes at the Valley of the End. Naruto's warmth was like the sun. His sunlight warmed all those who touched him.

After the release was completed, his remaining arm dropped to his side. He look towards his right and Naruto covered in dirt and blood just smiled at him. Sasuke looked behind him and knew that Kakashi was smiling underneath his mask. Next to Kakashi stood Sakura, also covered in dirt, smiling the biggest smile she could as tears endlessly rolling down her face. Her watery green eyes met his gaze, he willed his lips to almost smile back at her.

Too bad, Sasuke didn't utilize the opportunity before he collapsed.

* * *

" _Sakura I… I'm sorry for everything up until now"_

" _Shut up, Usuratonkachi"_

"… _I have absolutely no reason to love her and likewise, I can see no reason why she would love me."_

" _What I am calling for, what I am bringing forth… that is… Revolution."_

" _I have long since closed my eyes...My only goal is in the darkness"_

" _It's not like you ever had a family in the first place! You were on your own right from the beginning, what makes you think you know anything about it?!"_

" _Thank you."_

 _"I know the four of us have worked together. And for a while, I thought I could choose that path instead… but in the end… I've decided on revenge. That's always been my purpose of living."_

" _You're such a loser, Naruto._

" _Sakura, who did this to you?"_

" _I hate a lot of things, and I don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan, and kill a certain someone."_

" _My name is Sasuke Uchiha."_

* * *

When Sasuke arose, everything was dark. Tense, he looked up to an unfamiliar ceiling, in an unfamiliar room, in an unfamiliar bed. Only the moonlight and stars faintly illuminated the room. He was probably in the Konoha Hospital. He wondered how long he was unconscious as his last sentient memories occurred during the day. He looked to the left side of his bed to see Kakashi asleep, slumped over in a wooden chair with a copy of Icha Icha Paradise over his face. His body relaxed. He thought it was a little strange that his sensei stayed with him into the night but at least it wasn't Naruto or Sakura. Then again, if it was either of those two watching him, he probably would have woken up much earlier. It was only when Sasuke tried to shift his body to get a better look at Kakashi, that he noticed something was very wrong.

His left arm was gone.

"Kakashi!" he screamed.

His instructor immediately straightened his posture to Sasuke's urgent cry. The Icha Icha Paradise volume fell to the floor. Scowling, Kakashi look straight into Sasuke's eyes and said, "You know that there are much better ways to someone up."

"Kakashi, this isn't time to joke around. My left arm is gone!" Sasuke snapped.

Sighing as if Sasuke's statement was just an everyday fact of life, Kakashi moved to pick up the fallen book. "You lost it during the battle remember?"

Sasuke paused, trying to recall the moments before he fell unconscious before he spoke again.

"I remember the fight clearly. I don't know I did what I did… I guess I just didn't want to lose to the dobe…" Sasuke rambled, "I thought I was going to die. I really thought I was dying but I'm still alive."

"Yeah, you should be fine." Kakashi remarked nonchalantly, "It was just chakra exhaustion. You should be released within a day or two."

Sasuke's mind was still scrambling to put his thoughts together. He sunk his face into his hand. Ignoring Kakashi's comments, his crazed rambles continued, "I remember that it didn't hurt that much. Then I felt nothing. Then everything went black."

Kakashi was already irritated with Sasuke.

"That's what happens when you use too much chakra. Just go back to sleep and a nurse will see you tomorrow morning-"

Sasuke looked up and directly met with Kakashi's eyes. He interrupted him.

"Why would Haku cut off my arm if he thought I was dead?"

Kakashi realized that a nurse couldn't wait until tomorrow.

"Kakashi, do you realize how late it is!? This better be a real emergency!" a loud mouth well-endowed blonde woman proclaimed as she slammed open the door of his hospital room.

Kakashi stood up at the woman's presence, "I think you should really give him a physical exam now. There's something definitely wrong with him."

No shit, Kakashi. Sasuke thought as if his dark gaze could convey sentences and sarcasm. His entire left arm is missing, of course there is something wrong.

The woman her face peered closer to his. Although Sasuke visibly didn't show it, he was attracted to women. And this older woman's very large bosom was nearing his face. He cheeks slightly tinted red as he tried to avert his gaze from being inappropriate. Instead he looked at Kakashi who merely chuckled at Sasuke's obvious discomfort with the fairer species.

Sasuke just scowled at Kakashi's reaction. "Of course THIS is the nurse you had to call in?"

Tsunade punched the last Uchiha in the head causing him to lose consciousness once again.

Sasuke woke up and he could hear Kakashi and the blonde haired woman speak through the hospital room.

* * *

" _Well, what's your diagnosis?"_

Is that Kakashi's voice?

" _It seems that he has retrograde amnesia."_

" _Do you think his memory will come back before the tribunal?"_

Tribunal? Whose going to a tribunal?

" _Let's post-pone the tribunal for now and focus on what the Uchiha actually remembers."_

" _Are you just trying to push the tribunal to after the Hokage coronation ceremony?"_

Is there supposed to be a new Hokage?

" _What was the last thing Sasuke said he remembered?"_

" _He thinks his arm was cut off during the Wave mission. You didn't answer my question."_

" _The Wave mission? Was that when Sarutobi was Hokage?"_

Sarutobi isn't the Hokage? Then who is the Hokage?

" _Yes, it seems that he's lost the last four years of his life."_

Four years?!

His mind was racing. The last thing he remembered was his fight against Haku during his first C-rank mission with Team 7 as a gennin. If he had lost four years of memories, then there must have been so many other missions that he cannot recall. Sasuke wasn't sure of the exact date, but he was probably fifteen or sixteen years old now. Was he still on the same team as Naruto and Sakura? Was he still even a gennin? He probably wasn't a gennin. Sasuke figure that somehow he moved up in the ranks if four years past. But he continued eavesdropping on their conversation, to try to catch up with the memories he didn't have.

" _That's unfortunate… He doesn't even remember the Fourth Shinobi War."_

" _What should we tell Naruto and Sakura?"_

" _For now, we'll limit his exposure to outside visitors besides us and the medical staff. It'll be too much stimulation for Sasuke because a lot has changed. We'll reintroduce him to the current shinobi world slowly. Until then, an ANBU will be stationed outside his room at all hours to restrict his access to the outside world. This situation must be under the utmost secrecy."_

" _Those two are not going to like this."_

" _Too bad. I'm the Hokage, and the head of the hospital right now. These are my orders."_

" _Understood Hokage-sama."_

Sasuke slumped back into his uncomfortable hospital bed. So he's still associated with the two. Sasuke was surprised. He had figured that Naruto would have gotten himself killed in action for his reckless behavior. He also thought that Sakura was more or less a liability that he would have had to leave for dead sometime. Maybe they were just lucky and fell back into support positions? However, apparently there was a war? If there was an ongoing war then the two must have improved at least enough to stay alive. In war, only the strong survive.

He looked out the window to see that Konoha was not what he remembered. His childhood village was under heavy construction-probably something to do with this Fourth Great Shinobi War that was mentioned. From his view outside the window, he knew that the Uchiha District was on the other side of the building and not visible from his perspective. He wondered if that was an intentional placement. He was very tempted to just escape from the hospital, but he just didn't have enough information about the current world.

No one talked about the absence of his left arm. Was that not a serious medical condition? Has his arm been missing for a long time? Maybe he lost it in a previous mission. With no weapons, sense of direction, or information about the world, he was frustrated. Was he stronger now? He wanted to test his strength outside of these four walls but he also weighed the possibility of being more injured as his room seemed to be abnormally heavily guarded. More importantly, did this loss of limb impede on his ability to get strong enough to complete his life goal or did he become just another cripple retired shinobi?

He wondered if he lost his arm against his fight with Itachi. If that was how he lost the limb, then the absence of the appendage was somewhat more bearable. As long he could complete his revenge, then any loss seemed negligent to the overall predicament. Is Itachi still even alive? Sasuke knew that before he could make any move, he needed more information.

The raven haired man, turned over in his bed trying to find a comfortable position that didn't emphasize his lack of an arm. He drifted off into the abyss of sleep, hoping for no nightmares and for his memories to return.

* * *

Sasuke woke early the next morning at the crack of dawn. He had tried to look for a way to leave the hospital room to obtain more information but the outside window was guarded by two ANBU and the entrance to the hallway was also guarded by another two ANBU. The lack of information and amount of security for his hospital room was both frustrating yet also flattering. He hoped that the security was high because he had risen to a high level shinobi. He fantasized about the possibility that his room was so heavily guarded because his memory loss had to do with a national security threat or some key to stopping the war. He could be a war hero and not even realize it.

A timid nurse walked into his room at around 7:00am to serve him breakfast. She seemed abnormally nervous about being in his presence that she refused to look him in the eye. She also refused to speak words to him and quickly scurried away as soon as she set up his breakfast on the hospital tray for him to eat.

It took him a little longer to eat with his other arm. He liked to hold the bowl of miso soup with his left hand towards his face and drink the soup from his spoon. However, with the absence of his arm, he just drank the soup straight from the bowl. He also had difficulties cutting the fish on his plate. Normally he would take a chopstick in each hand and use the chopsticks to individually cut all of his food before eating. Without another hand, Sasuke resorted to picking up the entire slice of fish and simply bit into the flesh. His parents raised him with impeccable manners and the way he was being forced to eat made him feel uncivilized. It took him a little longer to eat than usual but he was thankful that no one was present to watch his struggle.

About an hour after his breakfast was delivery, the same timid nurse peeked into his room to take the tray away, trying to be as discreet as possible. As she left, Kakashi and the blonde woman, he thinks her name was Tsunami..or something close to that, entered his hospital room. The nurse quickly bowed and closed the door behind her.

"Do you know who I am, Uchiha Sasuke?" the blonde woman asked him.

"Well now I know that you're not the nurse." He sarcastically replied.

Kakashi intervened, "Sasuke, watch your tongue."

Tsunade's lip twitched, "I am the Fifth Hokage, one of the Legendary Sannin, Tsunade. I demand your respect and obedience."

"My apologies, Hokage-sama. It seems there is a gap in my memory. I thought that the Hokage was Sarutobi. As a shinobi of Konoha, I mean no disrespect."

Tsunade laughed, "Sarutobi has been dead for years. I am also your physician and I'm present here to see what you remember as you have retrograde amnesia. Kakashi believes that you've lost the memories of the last four years of your life."

"Have I killed Itachi?" he immediately asked.

Kakashi smacked his forehead. None of his students had any tact. Were all of them really that disrespectful?

Tsunade frowned, "I'm the one asking the questions here. You are going to answer them. Understood?"

Sasuke did not initially respond. He paused and then slowly nodded his head. He figured that he needed to get on the good side of the current Hokage to figure out his situation and get more information. He was already off to a bad start.

"Good. What is your name?" she asked him while pulling out a clip board to record his answers.

"Uchiha Sasuke."

"What is your birthday?"

"July 23."

"Who are your parents?"

"Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Mikoto."

"How old are you?"

"Twelve… but if Kakashi if correct them I am actually sixteen."

"What is your squad and who is in it?"

"I am a gennin on Team 7 under Hatake Kakashi with Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura."

"What does Konoha mean to you?"

Sasuke thought that was a strange question, "Konoha is home. Fire County is the nation where my clan was once dominant. I am a ninja of Konoha and I am a tool to be used for its means."

Tsunade furrowed her eyebrows, "What do you think about your teammates?"

"Kakashi is bearable. Naruto is an idiot. Sakura is annoying."

This time Kakashi was the one annoyed with his answer, "Really? Even with the memory loss, do you really not get the concept of teamwork?"

The Uchiha shrugged, "My opinion of their personalities doesn't affect the efficiency of us working as a three-man cell."

Tsunade continued her line of questioning, "What are your current goals?"

"I have only two goals in life, to kill Itachi and revive the Uchiha clan."

Finally, she concluded, "What are you last memories before your memory loss?"

"I was fighting a Mist missing nin named Haku who had a kekkei genkai which involved ice mirrors. I unconsciously moved my body to shield Naruto, I was struck with senbon and blacked out. I do not know the status of the mission nor why I am missing an arm."

Tsunade and Kakashi both looked at each other and then at Sasuke.

Kakashi decided to break the ice, "You lost it…during a battle?"

Sasuke just scowled. Obviously he lost it in a battle.

Tsunade clicked her pen and secured it onto the clipboard, "Alright, that's enough questions for now. I have other matters to attend to but Kakashi will give you a briefing on some things that you've missed. Afterwards, Kakashi please report to Hokage Tower. Uchiha Sasuke, you are not allowed to be involved in any missions while you have memory loss as it would impair the team."

With that the tall blonde woman, walked out of the room and left Sasuke with his sensei. After the door clicked shut, Sasuke spoke up again.

"….Kakashi, have I killed Itachi?" he asked.

Kakashi kept a straight face. "If I said Itachi was alive what would you do?"

"I would search for a way to become powerful enough to kill him." He responded in a plain matter of fact manner.

"If I said Itachi was dead what would you do?" Kakashi asked.

Sasuke didn't have an answer to that question.


	2. Chapter 1

A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I wasn't expecting to actually get many and I was really surprised. Keep them coming! They inspire me to write more. XD

* * *

" _It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live."_

-Marcus Aurelius

* * *

" _What do you mean we can't enter!? He was our teammate, dattebayo!"_ a loud voice boomed outside Sasuke's room. The voice had to belong to Naruto. Although it was somewhat unfamiliar, Sasuke knew of no one else in Konoha with that specific verbal tick. Naruto's voice was a little deeper than he remembered, but it was not a surprise to him if he went through puberty.

" _Naruto! Don't be so loud. You're making a scene!"_ a female voice scolded. This voice was very familiar. It belong to Sakura.

" _B-but Sakura-chan! Shouldn't everyone know who we are by now? We were Team Seven! How could they not let us in?"_

The ANBU responded, _"Sorry Uzumaki-san, but these were the Hokage's orders. We can't let you through right now. Uchiha Sasuke is not allowed any visitors until further instructions are given."_

Sasuke heard a fist hit the wall.

Sakura's irritated voice could be heard, _"Sorry about the wall ANBU-san. Have a nice day. Naruto! Come one, we need to have an emergency meeting with shishou!"_

He thought that was probably Naruto letting off some steam. He could hear the two stomp across the hospital hallway. His expectations of the two were fulfilled. They both remained imbeciles after all this time. The two didn't really cross his mind that often. Those two were just people on a team. They didn't matter to him.

"Baa-chan! What's going on?!" Naruto exclaimed as he burst open the door with Sakura trailing after him. Tsunade sat at her desk with her hands folded. Kakashi was standing nearby and both of them turned their heads to look at the source of the commotion.

"Ah Naruto, Sakura. I was just thinking about calling the two of you," the blonde stated.

Determined, Sakura walked in front of Naruto and closer to Tsunade's desk, "Shisou, the ANBU-san denied us visitation rights to-"

"Please close the door Sakura. This should be a confidential matter between only those in this room," Tsunade interrupted. Unhappy with the response, neither Sakura nor Naruto moved to close the door. Kakashi walked passed the two and closed it for them.

Naruto broke the silence.

"Baa-chan. What's going on." It was more of a statement than a question.

Tsunade looked at Kakashi, "You're their team leader. You have the right to tell them first."

"Tell us what? What's going on?" Sakura retorted.

Kakashi sighed, "Sasuke woke up."

Naruto smiled, "That's a good thing, right?! That means that he's okay!"

Tsunade and Kakashi just looked at each other.

Sakura frowned, "He's not okay… is he?"

"He lost his memories from the last four years." Kakashi stated.

"B-but that's like, almost all of our time together as Team 7!" exclaimed Naurto, "Does he even remember Team 7?"

"The last thing he remembers was the mission to Wave and fighting Haku." Kakashi responded.

Naruto's heart immediately sank. Sasuke didn't remember deserting the village. He didn't remember Itachi's sacrifice. He didn't remember their battles at the Valley of the End. He didn't remember the entire Third Shinobi War, or Kaguya, or any of the struggles that they went through. Sasuke practically reverted to a child, right after the two finally reached an understanding between men. Their memories together weren't always the best, but Naruto nevertheless cherished them in his heart. Those memories created his identity. They were the facts of his entire being.

The blonde looked at Sakura and the pink haired girl did not react.

"It's okay, Sakura-chan!" Naruto placed his left hand on her shoulder in an act to comfort her, "Between the two of us, we can definitely fill in all the blanks of Sasuke's memories! We can even ask his other teammates to help us out!"

"You will do no such thing, Naruto," Tsunade ordered.

Naruto frowned, "Why not?"

Biting her cheek, the pink haired girl finally decided to speak up, "It'll be too much stimulation at once. Sasuke-kun has a very difficult and painful history. This—this can be an opportunity for him to start over… He can live again."

As a doctor, and as a doctor that somewhat intimately knew the life of Uchiha Sasuke, Sakura knew that he had suffered innumerous tragedy in his life. He displaced his grief and turned it into anger. That anger turned into vengeance. His vengeance turned into a revolution to change the shinobi world as they all knew it. Sasuke was a powerful man, unexpressive, but ruled by his emotions. His emotions were dangerous and he was a ticking time bomb. She almost thought they were lucky that he didn't lose all of his memories. Who knew how Sasuke would react if he had relive the experience of the Uchiha massacre that drove him mad?

Naruto didn't see her perspective, his voice almost venomous, "Sakura-chan, are you suggesting we _lie_ to Sasuke?"

"Even if you wanted to you couldn't lie to him anyways," Kakashi stated.

"Uchiha Sasuke is still considered a war criminal in the eyes of the law. He is competent enough to stand trial," Tsunade stated.

"That's ridiculous, dattebayo! He probably doesn't even remember the things he did!" the Kyuubi container complained.

"It's the wishes of the council, Naruto. They want vengeance for Danzo,"

"Danzo was an asshole anyways! Who cares about him?!"

"The elders do Naruto. They don't want to set a precedent of angry shinobi off-ing anyone who pisses them off and getting away with it."

Sakura spoke up, "I don't know much about the law, but doesn't someone have to represent him? He can't represent himself. He doesn't even know what's going on."

"His preliminary hearing is scheduled for the end of the week," Tsunade responded, ignoring the appalled facial reactions of her prized pupil and possibly a future Hokage, "Uchiha Sasuke is going to get appointed council at the end of the hearing just like everyone else. Until then, that hospital room is pretty much his jail cell until the remainder of his arm has healed enough for him to be moved into a proper jail cell. The matter is settled. Team Seven is dismissed."

Naruto understood what Tsunade was trying to explain to him. That didn't mean he had to like it. All three of members of the original Team 7 had different feelings, as they left Hokage Tower in silence.

* * *

"I met with the Hokage about your situation" Kakashi stated as he quietly shut the hospital door behind him.

Sasuke waited for the door to click shut, "Why is my chakra restrained? I have one arm. I can't make advanced hand seals even if I wanted to."

"I don't know how to break this to you in a nice way." Kakashi hesitated.

"Just spit it out. Why am I stuck here? Why am I not allowed visitors?" the last Uchiha snapped.

Kakashi's posture stiffened. He cut off all his emotions towards his former prized pupil and the ANBU aspect of his personality took charge, "Uchiha Sasuke, you are a war criminal of the Third Great Shinobi War. You are waiting on tribunal and your preliminary hearing will be this Friday at eight-thirty in the morning where you will be read your rights, the charges will be explained, and you will be assigned to appointed counsel."

The raven haired man's features darkened, "So I'm going to jail and I won't even know why?"

"You're not going to jail, Sasuke," his former mentor stated.

"I'm a war criminal. War criminals either get life imprisonment or death," Sasuke spat.

Kakashi's voice softened, "Naruto, won't let that happen to you."

Sasuke scoffed, "What's that moron going to do? Cry and beg the tribunal for my life? The village hates him. His presence will ensure my execution."

"Sasuke, it's been years since the mission in Wave. A lot has changed since then. Naruto and Sakura are not the people you remember"

"The shinobi world changed after the war. It's not what you remember. When you get out of these walls, you'll see how wrong you were."

"You mean _if_ I get out of these walls. My life is essentially over."

"Have you thought about what I asked you earlier?"

"The part about what I would do if Itachi was alive or dead?"

"Yes. Have you thought of an answer?"

Sasuke didn't really have an answer before, but in his heart he had one now.

"Itachi is dead, isn't he?" the dark haired boy answered a question with a question.

"Yes. Uchiha Itachi has been dead for several months," Kakashi responded.

Sasuke lightly chuckled. His chuckle became louder, and louder. Until finally the dark haired man way laughing. A whole hearted happy laugh. If an outsider were to listen, they would hear a happy laugh, as if Kakashi had told some kind of hilarious joke. But Kakashi didn't tell a joke, he announced the death of Sasuke's brother. Suddenly without warning, he stop laughing and Kakashi found the reaction as somewhat disturbing.

"That is my answer Kakashi." Sasuke stated, onyx eyes set ablaze in a descent into madness.

Sasuke didn't speak at all after Kakashi left.

The hours of the day seemed to drag on as he just sat in his bed awaiting the hour of the preliminary hearing. There was no clock in the room. The only way he could measure time was by counting the miscellaneous nurses that would offer him meals three times a day. He thought it was a waste of food. He lost any and all appetite; this he stopped eating. Visitors were forbidden and he was in a private room so he had no company. He toyed with the possibility of speaking to the ANBU guards, but quickly rejected it. After all, why should he converse with his executioners? He might as well be dead anyways.

Sometimes doctors would come and asses the healing of his arm. The stub wound was still somewhat fresh, and it hurt if he accidently his it against something else. Once he had tried to stand in the room, but lost his balance and fell on the stub, a sharp pain surged throughout his shoulder reopening the wound. Sasuke felt the pain but he just laughed. The doctors asked him questions and he spat at them as a response. He wasn't necessarily a difficult patient, but his aura was just frightening. He said nothing and the hospital staff did not know how to approach him. He knew that his attitude terrified them, but he just didn't have the ability to care. Their opinions of him didn't matter.

In fact, nothing really mattered at all.

He might as well be on his death bed for all he cared.

Kakashi's voice asking that question resounded over and over again in his brain. For the raven haired man, revenge was an integral part of his identity. His sole desire for revenge was the only fire that kept the small flame of his life burning brightly. Without revenge, who exactly was Uchiha Sasuke? A broken man left with a dying legacy? He was so young when the massacre occurred and he wasn't equipped with the knowledge to really fulfill the wishes and desires of the clan. Sure, Konoha called him the only survivor of the massacre, but Sasuke himself never associated himself with that word. His means of identification was always as an avenger. Vengeance moved his soul to persevere through difficulties. Without vengeance, without hatred, the identity of "Uchiha Sasuke" should have died along with Itachi.

He was an empty husk awaiting his inevitable death.

Sasuke easily accepted the concept of his death, Team Seven however did not.

* * *

Haruno Sakura let out a heavy sign as she skimmed over Uchiha Sasuke's medical charts. She wasn't supposed to have access to them, due to her perceived "close relationship" to the patient, but she called in a few favors based on her status as the Godaime's prized pupil. It has been three days since Sasuke woke up and true to Tsunade's word, Sakura and Naruto's efforts to visit Sasuke have all been in vain. The ANBU guards thwarted their every attempt to try to sneak into Sasuke's hospital room. It was almost comical how stubborn Naruto was in trying to gain access. The two of them were practically neo-sannin, and if they really wanted to, they probably could have broken him out of the hospital via use of force. However, they didn't really know Sasuke's current state of mind, so they immediately ruled out that option.

Closing the folder and slipping it back into its respective place in the filing cabinet, Sakura knew all that she really needed to know from the file. Sasuke always had bad mood swings. The announcement of Itachi's death probably made them worse than normal. The nurses reported that for the most part Sasuke was unresponsive. However, his mood swings were practically a child's violent temper tantrum. Then again, the Sasuke in that hospital room was a child. He _was_ technically twelve years old, in the body of a sixteen year old man. Leaving him alone in that room was probably the worst possible thing for him.

Arriving at the Hokage Tower, the pink hired girl knocked on the door to the entrance of Tsunade's Office.

"Who is it?" Shizune's voice rang out.

"It's Sakura. I'd like to speak to Tsunade-shishou if she's available," then she quickly added, "It's about a personal matter."

She heard shuffling sounds and in a few moments Shizune opened the door with Ton Ton in her arms. The raven haired girl smiled knowingly at Sakura before she walked out of the office. "I'll be down the hall, Sakura-chan. Let me know when you're finished."

Shizune winked at her, as if she knew Sakura wanted to ask about Sasuke and then walked away.

The pink haired girl's face flushed, almost the same color as her hair. She took a few deep breaths to calm down so the color would leave her face. After all these years, any mention of Sasuke would always unsettle her, not always in a good way. At twelve, his name gave her butterflied in her stomach. At thirteen, his name would make her burst into tears. By fifteen, his name would infuriate her. By now, Sakura wasn't sure exactly how to describe her feelings toward Sasuke. She wasn't sure if she was ready to confront them yet.

"You can come in Sakura. I know you've been standing out there for a while." Tsunade's voice echoed from outside the door, breaking Sakura's train of thought.

Sakura entered the room and quietly shut the door behind her. She rambled, "Thank you for seeing me today. I know you're probably busy…"

The older woman smiled softly at her, "Sakura, you know you are always welcome to consult me for anything, at any time. What do you need?"

Biting her lip, she decided to get to the point, "I'd like to talk about Sasuke."

"I knew you'd come here eventually to ask about him."

"I'd like to request that Naruto will be allowed to see him."

"You don't want to be allowed to see him?"

Her green eyes shifted away from Tsunade's gaze, but nevertheless she gently gave a sorrowful smile, "I thought about it…but I really think it would be in Sasuke's best interest to at least see Naruto. Naruto is the closest person Sasuke had as a friend when we were twelve. Naruto was his teammate—"

" _You_ are his teammate, too," the blonde interrupted.

Sakura let out a soft laugh. It was painful for Tsunade to hear it, "Back then, we were barely even a team. I just…"

… _watched their backs._

Is what Sakura really wanted to say.

Instead, she said, "…think that Naruto is a lot better at talking to people than I am. He used his talk-no-justsu to practically save the world, you know? If he can't do it, then no one can!"

Tsunade took a deep breath, "I agree. I've looked at his file and I think it would be good for him to have at least some regulated contact with the outside world."

Emerald eyes lit up, and her pink lips formed into a smile arguably becoming top large for her face. She clapped her hands together. "Thank you so much, shishou! I am forever in your debt! You have no idea how much this means to me!"

"Don't get ahead of yourself," the blonde scolded, "There are restrictions."

Sakura blinked. "What kinds of restrictions?"

"Naruto may not talk to him about the truth of the massacre."

In other words, Sasuke was forbidden to know that Itachi's reasons for the massacre. At present, only a select few knew about this situation: Tsunade, as she was the Hokage, and Naruto, Kakashi, and Sakura. The later only knew because Sasuke had told them during the fight against Kaguya. His revolution was inspired by Itachi's life. Everyone else was either under the Infinite Tsukuyomi or dead so they were not present to Sasuke's revelation. It is also likely that Sasuke may have told members of Team Taka, Suigestu, Karin, and Juugo. However, the three of them were currently in separate jail cells and they were unlikely to speak to Sasuke any time soon.

"I don't think Naruto will agree to lie to him." Sakura responded.

"He's not lying to him," Tsunade plainly stated.

"It's pretty much the same thing."

"It's not. If Sasuke remembers on his own, Konoha will _deal with it_. Until then, I don't want anyone prematurely trying to trigger anarchy."

Sakura buried her uneasy feelings in the depths of her heart, "I understand Tsunade-sama. It's for the betterment of Konoha. Should I go speak to Naruto…?"

"No. I'll call him over. You are dismissed."

* * *

"Hold the applause, hold the applause! Your future Hokage as graced your presence-dattebayo!" the blond man exclaimed as burst into Sasuke's hospital room making extravagant bowing motions.

Dark eyes narrowed, Sasuke looked up to see Naruto. It didn't really hit him that he was missing almost four years of his life until he saw the blond was not how he remembered. First of all, Naruto's voice was deeper. It was still annoying and loud, but the voice undoubtedly belonged to Naruto. No one else in the world could possibly have a verbal tick as annoying as his. Second, Naruto was a taller. _A lot taller_ and Sasuke hoped that he didn't tower over him if they stood back to back. Third, Naruto gained muscle mass and his build became more masculine. Sasuke didn't go over Naruto's build in extensive detail, but just a glance was enough to reaffirm that Naruto was indeed older. Fourth, he was clad in orange. Technically, black and orange but Naruto is the only ninja who would wear that obnoxious color on a daily basis.

Sasuke spoke his first words, in several days.

"You're still a moron."

Naruto let out a hearty laugh and closed the door behind him, "Some things never change, right?"

Sasuke's eyes shifted to the blond man's lack of a right arm, but he didn't say anything.

"Oh this?" Naruto looked down and used his left arm to scratch the back of his head, "We did quite a number on each other. I probably knocked your memories right outta your head!"

"Tch."

Using his only arm, Naruto opened the blinds to Sasuke's window letting the sunlight shine onto Sasuke's pale grimacing face. ANBU guards were still regularly stationed outside the window, but when they noticed the blinds were open, they tried to conceal their presence from the window's view. Sasuke could see the view of Konoha, it was obvious that there was a war. The entire village was under construction. Both shinobi and civilians alike were active on the streets trying to repair the remains of the village.

Naruto started getting sentimental, "There's a lot of construction going on, you know? The war just ended and everyone is trying to pick up where we left off and salvage what they have. It's only been a week but there hasn't been that much progress. Everything is still a little screwy around here."

Sasuke frowned. He hated sentimental speeches. Is Naruto implying that he was a _little screwy_?

Sensing the Sasuke's hostility to his analogy, Naruto switched perspectives.

"Look teme. You're like this village. You're a little lost and a little broken. How can I protect the village as Hokage, if I can't even protect my friend?"

Sasuke chose his response carefully.

"I am a war criminal,"

Naruto scowled, "Yeah, yeah. I've heard it all by now. First you're an avenger, now you're a war criminal. Don't get all dark and depressing on me, dattebayo."

"Itachi is dead," Sasuke stated, but it sounded more like a question.

"Itachi is dead," Naruto confirmed.

"…"

"…"

"…Did I kill him?" Sasuke hesitated.

"Yes, you killed him," Naruto confirmed again.

"Then you don't need to save me,"

"What-what is that supposed to mean?!"

"My family has been avenged. I will accept any punishment the tribunal will give me,"

Naruto's nose flared, "Are you suicidal or something?! You don't even know what you did! You don't even know your charges!"

"I don't care. My life goal has been fulfilled."

"Bull shit."

Dark eyes narrowed at Naruto's profane choice of words, "Excuse me?"

"You're full of bullshit. You had two life goals. You finished one." Naruto bitterly responded.

" _I'm going to restore my clan, and kill a certain someone."_

Sasuke briefly remembered that he did state his two life goals during Team Seven introductions all those years ago. But for him, those introductions were probably around a month ago. His other goal was to restore his clan.

"I cannot restore the clan. I am a war criminal and I've sullied the clan's reputation," He paused, then almost painfully Sasuke continued, "I am unfit to continue to clan legacy. The clan will die with me."

With his remaining fist, Naruto punched Sasuke in the face.

"Are you a blind?! Can't you see I'm injured?" Sasuke yelled, motioning towards the absence of his arm.

"Yoo hoo?" Naruto waved his nub of a right arm in Sasuke's face, "I'm just as injured too! We're even!"

The Uchiha scowled, "I didn't hit you."

"You're bleak outlook on life might as well have. Apparently hitting you is the only way to talk some sense into your thick skull."

"…"

"Teme, I hate people who lie to themselves the most."

Naruto sat down on the edge of Sasuke's hospital bed.

"…"

"You're using the tribunal as an excuse to run away," the blond man gazed outside the window, "You don't care about the punishment because if someone gives you death then that'll be the easy way out. The elders said this, the elders said that. You bow your head and keep yourself in that bad situation because you don't want to deal with it… Yeah, maybe you're not afraid of dying, because it's easy."

The words stung, but they were words that Sasuke needed to hear. Naruto stopped looking out the window and looked back at Sasuke, giving him his signature grin.

"You're afraid of starting to live,"

He inched closer to Sasuke…and poked him with his bandaged nub.

 _THUMP!_

Sasuke kicked Naruto off the foot of his bed.

Naruto whined, "Forget it! I quit! Sakura-chan and I are not helping you, you ungrateful asshole, dattebayo!"


	3. Chapter 2

" _Someone has to die in order that the rest of us should value life more."_

-Virginia Woolf

* * *

Maybe he really was crazy, but he found this whole situation almost comical. Earlier that morning an ANBU entered his room to escort him to his preliminary hearing. The ANBU performed a few a few hand seals and in seconds Saske's feel and remaining arm were encased in chakra restraints. He rolled his. What were they afraid of? That he would perform hand seals _with his feet_? He thought he looked ridiculous. Clad in a light blue hospital scrubs, chakra restraints on his wrist and feet, Sasuke would have laughed at himself if he wasn't the subject of his own ridicule.

The ANBU guided him into an underground tunnel from the hospital. It was dark, dreary and lit with small torches that appeared once every several feet. The pathways was a maze, and the shade of the tiles were almost a burnt orange. The scenery felt vaguely familiar, although he knows that he had never been in tunnels like this. Sasuke wondered if these tunnels were always there. But the existence of the tunnels made sense. The tunnels probably discreetly transported injured prisoners to the courthouse without causing a commotion in the street. He figured the jail cells also had a similar tunnel system that served the same function.

The ANBU stopped walking and faced a wall. The ANBU's sudden pause also forced Sasuke to stop walking. The ANBU dragged Sasuke along like a dog with his chakra. His body suddenly jerked and he struggled to keep balance as he was still not used to the weight difference due to his missing limb. The ANBU performed more hand seals and the earth separated revealing a normal door. Then, he opened the door for Sasuke and they both walked through to enter an empty court room.

"Sit there." The ANBU plainly stated, pointing to the table farthest away from the jury bench. There were two available chairs, "You will be appoint council today. Just follow what the Council says."

Sasuke followed the instructions and sat down without saying a word. The ANBU remained standing nearby the entrance to the tunnel where they entered. He waited in silence until the backdoor opened and he heard a loud _THUMP!_ Sasuke turned around to see a plump middle-aged man, in a dark yellow formal kimono. He had small beady eyes that disappeared when he smiled and kid behind tiny round glasses. He was carrying too many scrolls and dropped a large scroll onto the ground. He struggled maintaining his balance as he chased the fallen scroll across the floor.

The plump man pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose and smiled, "Good morning! Are you by any chance Uchiha Sasuke?"

Sasuke just nodded.

The older man smiled, "Oh! That's good you're early. We can chat about your case. I'm Hoshikage Soranosuke, your appointed counsel. I didn't get a chance to look over the indictment. You look like a nice young man! What are you here for?"

Sasuke frowned, "I don't know. You tell me."

Soraosuke placed his books and notes onto the table and sat down in the empty chair next to him. He pulled out a small scroll and began to skim its contents. As his eyes read the charging document, his face went pale. The plump man tried not to show an emotional reaction, but Sasuke was a trained shinobi. He could tell that appointed council was nervous.

The attorney rolled the scroll back into place and smiled reassuringly at him, "Maybe if we throw on a show today, we can convince the prosecution to plea for life imprisonment instead of a death sentence. Do you want to be crazy or do you want to be remorseful?"

Sasuke's eye twitched.

"Neither. I want to know what my chances are in getting out of this mess."

Soranosuke raised his eyebrow at him, "Look kid, you're being charged with one count of first degree pre-meditated murder of Shimura Danzo, a Konoha Elder, one count of obstruction of justice, and one count of treason. I don't know what you did or who you think you are but you don't have a good case."

He was probably a civilian attorney. Everyone in the ninja world knew Uchiha Sasuke. This idiot, probably thinks he's superior because he's book smart. Sasuke felt like the attorney was looking down on him. He didn't like this attorney.

"Did you even read my medical file? I don't remember any of this? Can't you post-pone the whole thing until I remember what's going on?"

"Can't kid. Speedy trial act. We can try, but there needs to be some kind of definite date. Who knows when your memory is going to come back?" he responded.

"Shouldn't I be considered an essential witness _to my own trial_?" Sasuke snapped. He hated Soranosuke's nonchalant attitude. His first impression of the man wasn't very good.

"Well this isn't a trial yet. It's a preliminary hearing together with an arraignment."

"Is that supposed to mean something to me?"

"Pretty much the arraignment part is where you state your plea, for now it'll be not guilty until I talk to the prosecution about trying to cut you a good deal—"

"I'm not pleading guilty." Sasuke interrupted.

His attorney ignored him, "A good majority of cases plea guilty. It saves the government a lot of money and a lot of time. Anyways, the preliminary hearing part is trying to determine if there is enough evidence to send to case to trial. Only the prosecution can present witnesses at this point and all we can really do is try to impeach them. We can't offer evidence at this point."

"What's 'impeach' mean?" Sasuke asked trying to follow the explanation. He was a genius out of the rookie nine as a shinobi, but that didn't mean he was a genius in all aspects of knowledge.

"It means that I'm going to stand there and try to discredit the witnesses during cross-examination, aka our turn to ask questions." Answered Soranosuke, trying to simplify the topic as best he could, "It's kind of like a trial, but it's not a real trial. Almost like a mini-trial before the real trial to determine if there will be a trial at all. That's pretty much it. You don't say or do anything the whole time, except that you plead not guilty when the Elder asks. "

Sasuke nodded, understanding that his role was very limited.

He no longer had any questions, so he sat there in silence. Next to him, Soranosuke began to read through several of the scrolls that were on the table. Occasionally, the double doors would open and people would trickle in to sit in the pews behind the tables. Sasuke vaguely recognized some of them, like Naruto distinguished by his bright hair and brighter orange jumpsuit. Sasuke did not recognize the person who was talking to Naruto, a ninja probably the same age as him, if not a few years older. Pale skin, black hair, dark eyes, clad in black, with an unnerving smile, he greatly contrasted with Naruto's rambunctious presence. The two sat near the back on the same side of the room as him. Blue eyes caught Sasuke's gaze. Naruto noticed him and waved but made no motion to get up and make an actual conversation.

Kakashi also walked through the double doors accompanied by a man that Sasuke also did not recognize. The other man wore a dark red hakama. He was around the same height as Kakashi and probably around the same age, if not older. His hair was short, cut before his neckline, and its color was shade a shade of grey darker than Kakashi's hair but lighter than Sasuke's own raven hair. After their conversation ended, Kakashi walked over to sit next to Naruto and Naruto's friend. Kakashi looked over to Sasuke and two acknowledged each other's presence, but no words were exchanged.

A bailiff appeared from the door connecting the courtroom to chambers.

"All stand, Utatane-sama is entering"

Everyone in the room stood up. Utatane Koharu, a long time Konoha Elder and former teammate of Nidaime Hokage Senju Tobirama, entered the room. The short elderly woman took her seat at the head of the room.

"You may sit down." She ordered. Everyone sat down, "Government, please start today's docket."

The man who was speaking to Kakashi earlier stood up, "Misturugi Reiji, on the behalf of the government. I'm calling the preliminary hearing and arraignment of Konoha v. Uchiha Sasuke Docket Number: 714-CR-1129127."

Sasuke's attorney also stood up, "Hoshikage Soranosuke from the Public Defender's Office on behalf of Uchiha Sasuke."

Koharu nodded to acknowledge the presence of the two attorneys. "You two may sit. I will read aloud the statement of charges for the scribe's record."

The scribe nodded as a signal that he was read to start transcribing. The two attorneys sat down.

"Uchiha Sasuke, you're being charged with one count of first degree pre-meditated murder of Shimura Danzo, one count of obstruction of justice for the murder of Shimura Danzo, a fellow Konoha Elder, and one count of treason for being a registered Konoha gennin, leaving the village without permission to seek refuge in an enemy nation. All events occurred within the jurisdiction of Konoha, Fire Country. Do you understand the nature of these charges?"

Sasuke nodded. Soranosuke elbowed him and whispered, "Stand up and say it for the record."

He frowned and stood up, "Yes I understand."

Koharu grimaced, "For the sake of efficiency we will be doing an arraignment and a preliminary hearing together. How are you pleaing?"

"Not guilty."

The sound of the double doors creaking opening and subtly clicking shut echoed in the large court room.

Sasuke didn't look around directly at the late newcomer. He did glimpse a head of pink hair from the corner of his eye sitting down in the back near Naruto's pale friend. He figured it was Sakura. She was late. _How annoying_.

Koharu ignored the minor disturbance and continued, "As you are pleading not guilty, let us continue to the preliminary hearing to make a determination of probable cause before myself, a neutral body. The government may begin."

Soranosuke tugged on the edge of Sasuke's shirt to motion that Sasuke should sit down. He sat down. The prosecutor Misturugi stood up and began to speak, "Elder Utanane, would you like a brief recitation of the facts?"

 _Yes!_ Sasuke thought thought to himself. _I have no idea what's going on._

"No, I'm quite familiar with the facts of this case. You may call your first witness for direct." The elder responded.

"The government calls Nara Shikamaru to the stand," Mitsurugi stated.

The double doors opened and Shikamaru appeared. Shikamaru was taller than Sasuke's prior memories of the lazy Nara clan heir, but he was still recognizable. Clad in jounin attire, Sasuke was impressed that Shikamaru could get far in his career when he actually applied himself. Shikamaru walked to the witness stand and sat down, avoiding eye contact with anyone else in the room besides Misturugi and Koharu.

"Nara, Shikamaru, do you swear to tell the truth, on your honor as a shinobi?" Koharu asked.

"These procedures are troublesome, but yes." Shikarmaru responded.

"Thank you for being here today Nara-san. Can you introduce yourself and state your rank." Mitsurugi asked.

"Nara Shikamaru, head of the Nara Clan. After the war I was promoted to jounin."

"Nara-san, do you remember a mission involving Uchiha Sasuke around four years ago?"

"Yes, there was a team assembled called the Sasuke Retrieval Team."

Sasuke internally cursed at himself. While he was not a law expert, he realized that Mitsurugi was using Shikamaru's statements to prove that his treason to the village. Sasuke could hear Soranosuke frantically scribbling notes next to him as he was unfamiliar with Sasuke's case.

"Could you tell us your role regarding this team and why was it formed?"

"Godaime appointed me as the team leader of the team. It was an A-rank mission. Sasuke defected to Otogakure shortly after the invasion and I was assigned to assemble any available genin to join this team to bring Sasuke back to the village."

"Who else was on that team?"

"Uzumaki Naruto, Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Neji, and Rock Lee. We also received back up assistance from the current Kazekage and his siblings Kankuro and Temari during battle."

"Why was this classified as an A-rank mission and why were genin on the team?"

"The risk of the mission was high because Orochimaru used the cursed seal on Sasuke. Genin were on the team because there was a shortage of other higher level ninja."

"Who is Orochimaru?"

"Orochimaru is a Konoha missing-nin and the head of Otogakure. He is an S rated criminal in the bingo book."

"Why would Sasuke want to go to Otogakure?"

"Sasuke wanted power to kill Itachi and avenge his clan. Orochimaru's cursed seal provided Sasuke with immersive power."

"Thank you, Nara-san. No further questions." Mitsurugi stated and sat down.

Koharu nodded, "Defense council, cross-examination?"

"Yes, Elder," replied Soranosuke as he stood up and walked towards Shikamaru, "Nara-san, did you know Uchiha-san before that mission?"

"Yes, we were classmates together at the academy."

"During your academy days, did Uchiha-san show any desire to leave the village?"

"Not to my knowledge, no."

"Then do you think that Uchiha-san's desire to leave the village came afterwards?"

"Yes. I think it was because he was infected with Orochimaru's cursed seal."

"Did Sasuke ask for the power of the cursed seal?"

"Objection! Hearsay." Mitsurugi stood up, "Nara-san was not present when Uchiha-san received the cursed seal. Any information about that would be hearsay."

"Sustained." Koharu ruled and the prosecutor sat down.

Soranosuke bit his inner cheek, "Did the Hokage ask you to try to de-escalate the situation before using force?"

"No. The Hokage ordered us to track and apprehend Sasuke. Talking to him would be ineffective." Shikamaru replied.

"Why would that be ineffective?"

Shikarmaru paused, and took a deep breath before answering, "His teammate, Haruno Sakura, tried to talk to him before he defected and failed."

Soranosuke made a common attorney mistake. He asked one question too far. "No further questions." He sat back down next to Sasuke. Sasuke simply glared at his attorney.

Koharu nodded, "Nara-san you are dismissed for today. Government, would you like to call another witness?"

Misturugi stood up again, "Yes, I would like to call Uzumaki Karin to testify."

As Shikamaru walked down the aisle to leave the room, the double doors opened and a red haired girl with glasses replaced Shikamaru's seat in the witness chair. Sasuke didn't recognize that girl at all. She shared a surname with Naruto, but Naruto never had a family to Sasuke's knowledge. Similar to himself, she was also in a prisoner's uniform, her arms and legs were bound by chakra restraints, and an ANBU escorted her to her seat. Unlike Shikamaru, her gaze did not leave his while she walked up to the stand. Sasuke couldn't read her expression very well, her eyes were filled with a mixture of emotions. He wasn't very good at understanding women, let alone emotional women that he didn't know.

Karin took the same oath of truthfulness as Shikarmaru and was entered into the record. Mitsurugi asked her to identify herself.

"I'm Uzumaki Karin. I was a genin Kusagakure before defecting to Otogakure. Then I defected to the Akatsuki, before it broke up." she stated looking only at Sasuke.

"How do you know Uchiha Sasuke?"

"I knew him because he was practically Orochimaru's left hand after he defected from Konoha. Around a year ago, he recruited me because I was special. I'm a sensor. He recruited me for his team, so I left Otogakure to join him."

"What is this team that Uchiha-san formed and why?"

"We were Hebi and then we were Taka when we joined the Akatsuki. The name changed, but the team still consisted of Sasuke-kun, Juugo, Hozuki Suigestu, and me. We were chosen to help Sasuke-kun in his revenge."

Misturugi paced a bit in front of her and then stopped, "Did the team disband after he killed Uchiha Itachi?"

"No. After meeting with Uchiha Obito, Sasuke-kun decided to attack Konoha after the Five Kage Summit."

Sasuke wanted to scream at this Karin girl that he didn't remember. Uchiha Obito died long before he was even a genin. He was the last Uchiha, everyone else died in the massacre. This girl had to be lying. What reason would he have for attacking Konoha? There was a missing link between Itachi's death and deciding to murder that Danzo person. Why was he the only person who had some kind of emotional reaction? He looked behind him briefly to see the rest of Team Seven's reactions. He couldn't really see Kakashi's expression because they were seated so far away. Naruto's pale friend had no expression. Sakura looked sad. She was frowning. Naruto bared a similar expression. None of them looked surprised, or angry, or startled by this information. Those reactions scared him because it meant that those words could be true.

"Did Uchiha-san ask you to target a specific person inside Konoha?"

"He asked me to use my abilities as a sensor to find Shimura Danzo."

"What happened when you caught up to Danzo?"

"I watched the two of them fight. I stayed in case Sasuke-kun needed to be healed."

"Did you watch the whole fight? What happened?"

"I watched the whole thing. Sometime in the middle of the battle when Shimura-san was dying, he noticed me and took me hostage to bargain with Sasuke-kun. Sasuke-kun looked like he was going to cooperate, but he didn't."

"Could please elucidate what you meant about Uchiha-san not cooperating with Shimura-san's request for the Elder?"

Karin nodded looking away from Sasuke and towards the floor.

"I asked Sasuke-kun to help me. He stabbed me through the chest to pierce Shimura-san's heart. When he withdrew his sword, Shimura-san was dead and I was mortally wounded… Sasuke-kun tried to kill me afterwards because I was burden to him."

Sasuke had a throbbing migraine. None of this testimony made sense to him. He couldn't believe that his hands stabbed through that girl's chest to kill some other man. The whole situation was surreal. He didn't believe any of it. He hoped he would go to sleep that night and tomorrow it was all a dream.

Mitsurugi continued his line of questioning, "Then what happened to you Uzumaki-san? How did you escape?"

"Haruno Sakura-san appeared and healed me. Team Seven had a dramatic reunion and Hatake Kakashi-san arrested me."

"Thank for your answers Uzumaki-san. No further questions." Mitsurugi sat down at his place by the table.

Koharu looked at Soranosuke and Sasuke, "Does defense want to cross examine the witness?"

Soranosuke nodded as he stood up to face Karin, "What is your current country affiliation?"

She laughed at the prosecutor, "Konoha prisoner? I'm probably still a Kusagakure missing nin. My loyalties lie with no country."

"Would you consider yourself an accomplice to Uchiha-san's supposed crime?"

"I'm not a lawyer but considering that I found his target and healed him during the battle, I think the law would consider me an accomplice."

"Were you offered anything in return for testifying for this trial?"

The red haired girl smirked, "Yeah, I was offered immunity and exoneration of my past crimes by Mitsurugi-san."

"No further questions," Soranosuke stated as he sat down.

"Uzumaki-san, you are dismissed," said the elder. Karin stood up and the ANBU guard escorted her out of the room, most likely back into her jail cell. Koharu looked back at Mitsurugi, "Mitsurugi-san do you have any other witnesses to present at this time?"

"No, those two witnesses should be sufficient enough for this type of hearing."

Koharu nodded, "As the prosecution finished his case in chief, I will lay down a ruling for the determination of probable cause. Defense, please stand."

Sasuke's body tensed. The both of them stood up.

The elder gave his verdict, "The purpose of a preliminary hearing is to have an adversarial determination of probable cause and if the evidence presented is enough for a trial. Based on the testimony of the two witnesses, I find that there is enough evidence for a trial. When Uchiha-san's injuries heal, you will be moved into jail. As we are entering pre-trial matters, prosecution has thirty days to present full discovery. The Defense will have sixty days to review the discovery. Please file any matters to my assistant if there is a change in circumstances. You are all dismissed."

* * *

"Kakashi-sensei, wait up!" the pink haired girl cried. The masked man stopped walking and turned around to face his student.

"Ah. Sakura, I was on my way to get lunch. I'm assuming you wanted to ask me about today's hearing. Want to join me?"

She pouted at him, "Yes that's what I wanted to talk about, but I don't want to be stuck with your bill. If you're going to scam me again, I'll just talk to Tsunade-sama."

Behind his mask, Kakashi smiled, "I won't scam you. I'm in the mood for Katsudon today. Let's just have separate checks."

She rolled her eyes, "Alright sensei, let's go to Donburiya today, I think they're having a lunch special now anyways."

The two walked into the small shop, sat down at a small table near a window, and made their respective orders. Sakura made sure to emphasize that she wanted separate checks.

"What did you think about the hearing this morning?" Sakura asked as she took a sip of her hot tea.

"It's hard to tell. The facts on its face are pretty damaging against Sasuke." Kakashi reluctantly admitted.

She sighed, "Yeah, I agree. There's so much more that actually happened but I feel like the way the attorneys phrased the questions told a linear story."

"That's the whole point of a tribunal in an adversarial system. Both sides really believe that they're right so they present what their stories."

"But I don't think our lives sum up to guilty or not guilty. So many things happened which created the Sasuke we know and it's so unfair that the judge is getting black and white picture."

He scolded her, "You sound like you're giving up on Sasuke's case before it even begins. I thought you promised to make Sasuke happy everyday if he came back to the village?"

Her green eyes widened a little and her face flushed a little pink, "Kakashi-sensei! We're not talking about that promise! We're talking about the hearing!"

Kakashi smiled under his mask, "I don't think you have to worry so much. Sasuke will be fine."

"I don't know how you can be so confident about this," the pink haired girl frowned, swished the tea in her cup around, and looked directly into Kakashi's eyes, "I just feel so bad about everything. Kakashi-sensei, it's just so unfair. Sasuke-kun recently woke up and he doesn't remember anything. He's probably so overwhelmed… and I can't even see him. I can't even support him when he's probably all alone."

"But he can see Naruto. Naruto always helped Sasuke with his loneliness. It was something they shared."

Sakura knew that. She always knew that. The type of loneliness that Naruto and Sasuke experienced during their short lives was unique to the two of them alone. She would never really be able to understand it. She could sympathize but she knew that Sasuke wouldn't want her sympathy. At times like this, she envied Naruto. Naruto who shined brilliantly like the sun, could always find a way to bring Sasuke out of the darkness. Naruto could walk alongside Sasuke as an equal. Compared to them, she felt like she hadn't suffered enough to earn the right to walk beside him.

"I feel like I'm sitting her doing nothing. I feel like there's nothing I can do for Sasuke anymore," she confided.

"You can support Sasuke in ways that aren't being directly at his bedside," Kakashi suggested, "You were always the smart one. I'm sure you can help out his attorney."

"But I'm a medical ninja. I don't know anything about the law and Sasuke-kun's case."

"Your name was said twice today for a minor hearing. You're an integral part of Sasuke's defense. You'll be called up to testify during the real trial at some point."

Sakura blinked. Earlier, one of the attorneys objected to Shikarmaru's testimony on Sasuke's cursed seal. She was present when Orochimaru bit him. She watched the whole thing. She was present when Sasuke tried to leave the village. She failed to stop him, but she was the last person he talked to before he left. She watched him leave. She heard him whispered an ambiguous "Thank you" before knocking her unconscious and leaving her on a bench. She also saw Sasuke kill Shimura Danzo. She healed Karin and she tried to kill Sasuke herself. While she failed to stop him once again, she saw the event occur. She was always watching Sasuke, searching for him, and yearning for his gaze.

"Have you watched a lot of these things before? What do you think I can do to help?" she asked hesitantly.

"Well the Uchiha Clan was a predominantly influential clan before the massacre. I'm sure if you look in their records, they probably had an attorney that represented them in all their legal affairs. Sasuke's current attorney is appointed counsel. If he had a private attorney that was familiar with the ways of the clan, it might help Sasuke come off as a more sympathetic individual?" he suggested.

The waiter arrived with Kakashi's Katsudon and Sakura's Unagidon. He placed the two bowls in front of the two and left the check discreetly on the table before beginning to walk away.

"Oh excuse me! Waiter!" Sakura called out. The waiter turned around and looked at her.

With a sheepish smile, she asked, "Sorry about this, but can you combine the check into one bill?"

* * *

A/N: So Japan is a civil law jurisdiction with a super weird lay-judge system that I don't feel like learning for the sake of writing this fanfic/confusing myself for school. So, we're going to pretend that Konoha is a common law jurisdiction as I use this fanfic to simultaneously study for my Criminal Procedure II exam next month. _ Also the attorneys aren't OCs. I stole them from Ace Attorney and used their Japanese names. Please let me know what you think about the preliminary hearing parts, I'm trying to make it somewhat interesting and there will be portions of it that are directly related to the plot.


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